


The Same Mistake

by orphan_account



Category: Primeval
Genre: 3x03, Episode Tag, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-25
Updated: 2011-01-25
Packaged: 2017-10-15 01:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/155829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternative ending to 3x03, because nobody should be allowed to make the same mistake twice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Same Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Primeval doesn't belong to me, unfortunately.

**The Same Mistake**

 

"Where's Helen?"  

 

His question is met with silence and blank looks.  

 

As he strides towards the burning building he is peripherally aware of Jenny following him.  Her hand reaching out stops him in his tracks and he turns to face her.  

 

Her soot-streaked face is creased with anger.  "She wouldn't lift a finger to save you."  

 

"I know."  He smiles and glances away before looking at Jenny again.  It's not about Helen, not really, although his conscience won't allow him to let her burn.  It's about the answers she holds, the artifact in her possession and the fact that she is his last link to Claudia Brown.  

 

But he can't explain that to Jenny, the woman who stands before him in Claudia's image.  She wouldn't understand.  

 

Her eyes are wide, her expression fiercely pleading with him.  "Don't go.  This is a mistake."  

 

For a moment he's about to brush her off with a brisk comment and a pat on the arm.  He'll be fine.  Then her exact words penetrate the fog in his brain and he stops abruptly.  

 

 _Don't go.  Stay.  This is a mistake.  I've got a bad feeling about this._

 

It's coincidence, it has to be.  Nothing more than a distant echo of a moment that never happened.  Jenny can't know the power of those particular words.  She can't possibly realise that she's just said the only words that could make him pause.  

 

But Nick Cutter doesn't believe in coincidence any more.  Not since the anomalies.  Not since Helen, and Claudia.    

 

It always comes back to Claudia, especially where Jenny is concerned.  He's been comparing the two women since the day Jenny strode confidently into his life in those ridiculous stilettos.  In this moment the line between them has blurred and the similarities are almost painful.  Yet even now, in this mirror of another moment in another evolutionary timeline, the differences are readily apparent.  

 

Claudia spoke in anxious fear, Jenny speaks in indignant anger.  Claudia implored him to listen to her instincts, Jenny tries to bully him into obeying her will.  

 

Both of them were expressing concern for his safety, asking him not to leave them.  

 

He ignored Claudia's warning but he can't risk making the same mistake again.  He won't ignore Jenny's.  

 

He lays a hand on her arm.  "Okay."  He gets the message this time.  "Okay."  

 

He turns around, striding back towards the others.  "Becker!"  He waves a hand.  "Connor, Abby, Sarah, get over here."  He gathers the team around him and they start to formulate a safer plan to get Helen and the artifact out of the burning building.  

 

As Becker moves to put their plan into action Cutter catches Jenny's eye.  Her brief but genuine smile reassures him that he made the right decision.  

 

\-- **End** \--

   
 _I'm not calling for a second chance  
I'm screaming at the top of my voice  
Give me freedom but don't give me choice  
'Cause I'll just make the same mistake again.  _

**Author's Note:**

> It was only during a rewatch that I realised how closely the scene in 3x03 mirrored the one in 1x06.  This was supposed to be a sad little story about repeating past mistakes, but somehow it ended up as a fixer-upper for 3x03.  Denial. I lives it. The title is borrowed from James Blunt.  Sorry about that.  


End file.
